Dallas Mavericks Blog

Carlisle’s rebounding message lost on Mavericks

Before Friday’s game, Rick Carlisle made a point to his team that Denver’s offensive rebounding is the best in the NBA and it was absolutely crucial that the Mavericks figure out a way not to allow a flood of second-chance points.

So after one quarter, Denver had 22 rebounds, the Mavericks had eight. Six of the Nuggets’ boards were on the offensive end, and they had outscored the Mavericks 9-0 in second-chance points.

“We watched seven clips from [Thursday’s game against the Thunder] that involved multiple rebounds,” Carlisle said. “The message is all five guys have to be really engaged in the task of cleaning up the defensive boards. We cannot have anybody standing and watching or leaking out until we have the ball secured.”